Monday, August 1, 2022

Harvest Monday - 1 August 2022

It's time for another Harvest Monday report from Eight Gate Farm. We enjoyed a respite this week from the relentless heat and humidity of the prior week. We did a lot of harvesting, so I'll try to keep the gab at a minimum. I'll start with the "first harvests" as usual.

The first tomatoes ripened. This is "Valentine," a saladette hybrid developed at Penn State University for earliness, Early Blight resistance, and high lycopene and brix levels. They sure are deep red, but neither of us found them particularly sweet. So I'm not sure yet it will be a replacement for Juliet.

Valentine tomato

I judged some of the sweet corn was ready, based on withered silks, fullness, and pulling away from the stalks. It was not. It had only a hint of sweetness. I should learn to overcome craving and just sample one.

Latte synergistic sweet corn


I picked the first of the two Romanesco plants I grew this year. The fractals always knock me out.

Puntaverde (F1) Romanesco

I pulled a few carrots, which we needed for a recipe. They are coming along nicely.

Mokum carrots

I love hot peppers that you don't have to wait for them to turn red to enjoy. I took the first Anaheim-types this week. There's actually two varieties here, but the differences are negligible.

Anaheim (OP) and Highlander (hybrid)

Same thing goes with the jalapenos...two varieties, small differences.

Early jalapeno (OP) and Goliath Jalapeno (hybrid)

I picked the first poblanos.

Open pollinated ancho/poblano

I had another case of the faded labels, so this one is a bit of a mystery. I think it's the hybrid Ancho Gigantia, but it sure doesn't grow like a poblano--the fruits point upward. 

Ancho Gigantia (?)

I pulled the last row of garlic. This is "Katterman," which always produces giant bulbs and giant cloves within. After these have dried and been cleaned, I'll show the entire garlic harvest and contrast them.

Katterman hardneck garlic

Now on to continuing harvests. I picked a full kilo of Sugar Rush Cream hot peppers from the overwintered plant.

Sugar Rush Cream

The Kitchen Goddess wasted no time preparing them for fermentation, using the "Basic Mixed-Media Mash" recipe from the excellent book Fiery Ferments.

Hot peppers fermenting in quart jar

She also gave the basil a good haircut. She gave away a lot of this, and dehydrated the rest. The kitchen smelled really good!

Genovese and Thai basil

She also did frequent light pickings of blueberries and raspberries.


Now for the "general harvest" pictures. This was Monday's, only collards and zucchini.

Monday general harvest

This was Wednesday's; more zucchini, cucumbers, shishito peppers, broccoli sideshoots, and pole beans

Wednesday general harvest

This was Friday's; zucchini, cucumbers, poblanos, Anaheims, and jalapenos.

Friday general harvest

And on Sunday, a harvest of one sweet corn, pole beans, salad greens, cucumbers, yellow and green zucchini, collards, broccoli sideshoots, scallions, and the next to last fennel bulb. In the middle are more tomatoes. The Garden Gods granted me my wish to have my own tomatoes and salad in one meal. Once. And also, the sweet corn was perfect. Strange how just a few days can make such a difference.

Sunday general harvest

Here's a sample of the harvests from the community garden plot shared by TKG and her Mom. Mom gets almost all the produce and is thrilled with it.


All of our poblanos and jalapenos were stuffed with hot Italian sausage and cheese, and wrapped with bacon, then slowly smoked. It's a lot, but we eat them for days. They're even good cold.

Smoky pepper feast

But I saved the real star for last. TKG brought home the first artichoke from the community garden. Mom does not get the artichokes, per TKG's rules.

Tavor artichoke

The heat returns this week. On Thursday, 100 is predicted. Too hot to do anything but water and harvest. And check for bugs. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.









4 comments:

  1. I'm not a fan of faded of missing labels either! Or playing "Name That Veggie". Your Sugar Rush Creams are impressive. I do have some SR Peach peppers ripening from my one overwintered plant. I've taken a few green hot peppers too, but I tend to let most of them ripen for hot sauce and chile powder. I do make a smoked Anaheim powder though that I really enjoy.

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    1. Thanks, Dave. We too smoke Anaheims and make powder.

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  2. Nice artichoke which I think of as western, but you do well growing from seed. Romanesco is gorgeous and a fun crop to grow. I've decided three is my garden max--the plants get huge and I end of giving many of them away. Nice berries too.

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    1. Thanks, Sue. Artichokes certainly are a California speciality, but we manage to grow "petite" ones.

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